Seal



W. M. BROOKS June 22, 1937.

SEAL

Filed July 24, .1.956

' INVENTOR Win/red M rW/fs ATTORN EY Patented June 22, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SEAL poration of New Jersey Application July 24, 1936, Serial N0. 92,303

l Claim.

This invention relates to sealing means and has as its main object and feature, the provision yof means especially adapted to tag sh, meat or poultry, although it may be used for other pur- 5 poses.

In the accompanying drawing the invention is shown embodied in several forms in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the blank as it is out out of the sheet of material and before the parts 10 are bent;

Fig. 2 is a view looking into the interior of the seal after the parts are bent;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view substantially on the plane of line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

15 Figs. Il, 5 and 6 are views similar to Fig. 3 but showing various stages of closing the seal;

Fig. '7 is a sectional view substantially on the plane of line l of Fig. 6;

, Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing 2O the seal closed and after an attempt has been made to open it, and showing a portion broken away to more clearly illustrate the action that takes place when it is attempted to open the seal;

Fig. 9 is a perspective View of the seal shown 25 in the preceding figures associated with a shackle of frangible material;

Fig. l is a sectional View substantially on the plane of line lil-l0 of Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 shows a modified form of the frangible 30 shackle member of Fig. 10 with the seal of Figs. 1

to 8 associated therewith; and

Fig. 12 is a sectional view substantially on the plane of line |2-l2 of Fig. 11.

The seal shown in Figs. 1 to 8 inclusive is of 35 sheet material, preferably of sheet metal, and consists of two main portions l and 2 that are 1 connected together at 3. One of said main portions, here l, is provided with a tongue 4 bent inwardly over said main portion and in spaced 40 relation thereto, and said tongue is provided with an inwardly tapering slot 5 having lateral bays 6 at its widest end. The other of said main portions is provided with a tapered tongue 'l partly bent toward the first main portion and adapted 45 to enter the widest portion 6 of slot 5 in the rst main portion when the two main portions are bent toward each other to close the seal.

The blank shown in Fig. 1, after tongues 4 and 'l have been bent, is bent along line 8 to bring the parts into the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and piercing tongue l, which preferably has a sharp point, is passed through a part of the meat or sh, after which the two main portions are pressed to- 55 gather, whereby tongue 1 enters wide portion 6 of slot 5 (Fig. 4) said tongue being gradually deflected by engaging the inner surface of main portion I (Fig. 5), and nally comes into the position shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Should it now be attempted to open the seal, tongue l, instead of retracting its path of entry through the wide end 6 of slot 5, will tend to come against the narrower portion of slot 5 and will therefore oppose any opening movement. If desired, such opening movement may further be opposed by providing tongue l with lateral notches 9 so that, if it be attempted to open the seal by a side-tilting of the parts (Fig. 8), said notches will permit tongue 'i to project laterally into one of the bays E which will further tend to frustrate any attempt to open the seal.

If desired, the seal can be provided with weakened zones at its bending lines in a well understood manner.

It is the practice when tagging fowl to attach the tag to a wing or foot thereof. These parts of the fowl are, however, later removed as being offal and may be passed through a macerating device so as to be used for non-edible purposes. One of the difliculties heretofore encountered, when metal tags or bands are attached to the wing or foot of a fowl, is that these metallic tags sometimes remain in position because diicult to remove and thereby injure the knives or other mechanism of the macerating machine. To obviate this diiilculty, I employ a two-part seal of which the seal disclosed in Figs. 1 to 8 inclusive may constitute one member. Referring to Figs. 9 and 10, a shackle of frangible material such as paper or cardboard is shown to which the metallic or non-frangible seal previously described is applied. As shown, the frangible seal is composed of a strip of cardboard bent back upon itself to form a shackle portion I0 at one end and having an enlarged portion Il at its other end connected to the shackle portion by an intermediate neck portion I2. This frangible seal is passed around the article to be sealed, here the foot I3 of a fowl, after which the metallic seal, indicated by X in Fig. 9, is caused to clasp the neck portion of the frangible seal to seal the two layers thereof. It will now be seen that after the two-part seal has served its purpose, it can easily be removed by tearing the frangible seal.

In Figs. 11 and 12 is shown a slight modication in which one of'the layers of the neck portion of the frangible shackle is provided with a slot Ill through which tongue 'l can be threaded before entering slot 5.

I claim: its Wide end, said tap-ered tongue bent toward the A seal comprising: two connected main portions first main portion and adapted to enter the of sheet material; one of said main portions hav- Widest end of the slot in the first main portion ing a tongue bent inwardly thereover and in when the tWo main portions are bent toward each spaced relation thereto and provided with an in- Other and t0 be inwardly defleved b3 the nle' 5` Wardly tapering slot having lateral bays at its Wall of said rst main portion. Widest end; the other of said main portions having a tapered tongue provided with lateral notches at WINFRED M. BROOKS. 

